If you would like cloud document storage integrated with familiar Office apps like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and ready to be accessed by communication tools like Outlook email and Teams chat, Microsoft offers choices. The one that's right for you depends on your sharing needs:

• OneDrive is your individual storage space that you can selectively share from. Documents in OneDrive belong to you and can be shared to others as needed.
• Microsoft Teams contains a files section in every channel for a team. A document stored here is ready for quick access, collaboration, and review with your team. 
• SharePoint has a robust collection of features, one of which is a document library. SharePoint also includes list apps, communication sites, and much more. 

Each fulfills different needs, like individual work, team collaboration, or heavy-duty document and file organization.  

They all support a variety of file types and additionally provide rich feature sets and functionality for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint editing and collaboration. They all have the ability to provide access only to individuals or groups that you choose. This could be another person or group of people at Cornell, and can also include sending an invitation to specific guests outside of Cornell. 

Access Control and Sharing

Though all the storage options can have access set however you want, they have different default settings that make each better suited for different sharing needs.  

• OneDrive: Only you can see files there, unless you explicitly share 
• Teams file storage: Files are editable by everyone in a team when in a standard channel, or just by the channel members when it's a private channel.  
• SharePoint libraries: If you want more control over access, a wider range of actions for files, or to take advantage of SharePoint's broad feature set, they are all available by clicking through a team to get to SharePoint. 

OneDrive 

File storage that private to you, and files can be shared when you want to.  

OneDrive can store your private files and folders in the cloud. They’re then available to all your devices and Office apps, and also to your Cornell Microsoft account online for access through the web.  

To view your current storage, visit onedrive.cornell.edu. Once there, you can upload and organize files and folders, and open and work on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files right in your web browser. Files in OneDrive that you've recently used will even appear in the File section of the full versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint installed on your computer, tablet, or phone, ready to open no matter which device you’re using.  

OneDrive provides the ability to share files, and information about what you’ve shared and who you've shared with. This provides fast and easy informal sharing, but for ongoing sharing and better organization, Teams may be a better fit.

More information about Cornell OneDrive

Sign into your Cornell OneDrive account

Teams 

Easy sharing for a set group, with a framework that can help you stay organized.  

Do you store your personal documents in one particular place, so you always know where to find them? When you work on files with other people, doing this can be a challenge. Often, shared files get dropped in the same mass location, making it hard to locate a specific one you’re looking for.  

By design, Teams supports conversations and files organized by subject so they’re easier to find later. Just create a team for a group you regularly work with on a variety of topics, then make a channel for each topic. As everyone chats and shares files in the channel for each subject, organization happens naturally. You can also create folders within each channel's file space, allowing you to sort files into a finer level of organization. 

More information about Microsoft Teams at Cornell 

SharePoint 

Robust file management for power users. 

Every team in Microsoft Teams has a SharePoint site behind it, powering much of the functionality and providing advanced functionality that most Teams users don't need and don't have to worry about. If you are not sure about whether to choose a SharePoint site or a team for group file storage, create a team. However, some efforts may benefit from SharePoint's additional file and library management capabilities, such as automated actions, advanced sharing, and no-code web presentation.   

More information about SharePoint at Cornell.